In September, Glenn interviewed Mark Levin about the options afforded to the states under Article V of the Constitution as outlined in his book, The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Public. On radio this morning, Glenn shared the news that South Carolina and Virginia have formally called for an Article V Convention of State (COS), and Florida is expected to lend its support to the cause later this week.
“I have been talking to several people that I trust – and are not radicals at all – that know the Constitution. And I have been asking them all, ‘Have you read Mark Levin's book? What do you think of a Constitutional Convention,’” Glenn explained. “Constitutional Convention scares the crap out of me because it opens everything else up, however, that's only if the states are out-of-control. And there are a lot of people now fighting it on the conservative side… I believe this is the only way back. There's a massive reset coming, and the Constitutional Convention is the way [the founders imagined] it.”
For those unfamiliar with Article V of the Constitution, it is a mechanism put in place by the founders to enforce a checks-and-balances system for the federal and state governments. While amendments to the Constitution can be proposed and passed in Congress, Article V also allows for the states themselves to propose amendments. If two-thirds of the states submit an application to Congress, Congress must then call a Convention of States to propose amendments to the Constitution.
The South Carolina COS Project and state legislator Bill Taylor (R-Aiken) are leading the charge. Rep. Taylor explained the American people are simply not happy with the Washington D.C.
“Fortunately, our founders knew the federal government might one day become too large and too powerful and they specifically inserted a mechanism that gives states a lawful and orderly mechanism to restrain a runaway federal government; it's Article V of the Constitution,” he said.
Constitutional law professor and state director of the South Carolina COS Project Bob Menges is also calling for a convention: “When the framers agreed on Sept. 15, 1787, to add a provision in Article V for the states to amend the Constitution, they in effect were telegraphing a message to us in 2013, a message to us showing us the way back inside the fence of the Constitution.”
While the concept of getting 37 states to agree to such an idea may seem far-fetched and overwhelming, Glenn explained why he really believes now is the time.
“Now, I wrote to Mark Levin last night because I've been doing my homework on the Convention of States and [have been] asking people that I really trust, ‘Show me the downsides in this,’” Glenn said. “We're all really kind of coming to the conclusion that this is the time.”
“When George Washington said, ‘Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair, the event is in the hand of God,’ I really believe he was talking about us,” he continued. “I don't think they knew it was going to be this long – but they knew, at some point, you would need to pull an escape pod and you would have to start all over.”
That “start all over” tool Glenn refers to is found in Article V.
“Now, the biggest tool in the box is this Article V. And it says: When you have trouble, the states can get together – you need 37 of them – and they can amend the Constitution,” Glenn explained. “I realize that this is a scary thing for many people, and people will try to scare you on it. [But] It's what the founders intended. The founders said, ‘Trust the people!’”
Trust, however, could prove to be a very big issue. Recent polling data shows Americans trust for one another is at all-time lows. As Glenn explains, however, trust will be essential to the success of a COS movement.
“Now, you have to decide: Do you trust people or not. If we don't trust we can open up this Constitution and do it right at the state level – not Washington level… If you don't even trust the people in your own state, well, there's nothing left anyway,” Glenn concluded. “Ask yourself: Do you think people are going to get better or worse from here? Like it or not, we are the generation Washington foresaw. It's time to be wise and honest and do the right thing. Convention of States. Look it up.”
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